Poison
by TheSweetSerenity
Summary: With one member fighting for his life, the team walks into a whole can of worms they never saw coming in hopes of saving their team member.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello all! I have finally returned! And I bring with me a multi-chapter, plot lined story. Hopefully. I have a decent start on the story, so I'm hoping I'll be able to keep up with it. I will consider it a personal failure if I don't! **

**Anywho, you know the drill. Read, review, and enjoy. **

* * *

"Any luck with the poison?" Captain Rogers asked as he walked into the quiet medical room. The lights were dim enough that sight was basically useless; by now they had the room memorized. For once, the room held only one other occupant, other than the one on the bed.

Doctor Banner looked up from the charts he had been examining with a sigh. "No. Even Jarvis can't identify one of the chemicals they used. Besides that, I don't know why the chemicals I do recognize would affect the human body like…this," Banner said, barely glancing at the bed's tenant. Steve recognized that the doctor went through phases like this—sometimes he could barely stand to look at his patient, guilt forcing him to look away. Other times he couldn't tear his eyes away. Steve would walk in and see him sitting in the chair next to the bed, hands clasped under his chin, just _staring. _He put a hand on the doctor's shoulder.

"Bruce, you're doing everything you can. Maybe you should take a break, get some sleep. When's the last time you ate?"

Bruce waved vaguely at the door. "Natasha brought something a couple hours ago."

"Bruce, that was yesterday. Let me-"

"No!" Bruce snapped and Steve was taken by surprise, so much so that his hand froze on Bruce's shoulder. Bruce took a deep breath, forcing his muscles to relax. The other guy was barely being held in, sleep-deprivation, anger, and guilt loosening his control. He knew he should take a break, focus on his control, but…"I can't."

Steve pulled his hand back and studied the other man. There was something else going on here.

Both men jumped as the grating of the vent above them was pushed open, revealing Barton as he jumped down.

"What aren't you telling us?" he asked.

"What the hell Barton?" Bruce said, trying to gulp in calming breaths. Need overlaid instinct and he forced the other guy back down. "How long have you been up there?"

"I'm up there most of the time. Fury wants someone to play bodyguard. Besides, a man in the vent is never a bad idea. Now, what aren't you telling us?" Steve got what he wasn't saying—he was trying to be there for his friend, like he should have been before. If they hadn't separated, if they had stayed closer…well, maybe this wouldn't have happened. And now Clint was going to let his friend out of his sight again.

Bruce's gaze snuck to the bed before he tore it away a second later. He could try to lie to them, and if it was just Steve, there was a chance he could have gotten away with it. Clint, though, would be much more difficult. Besides, they deserved the truth.

"The poison," Bruce started. "It's still corrupting his system. We thought it ended with his shortness of breath but it's worse than that. His lungs are starting to fail, along with a number of other internal organs."

Steve's fists clenched around the railing of the bed. He ground his teeth as he tried to regain control of his worry and anger, but the railing still showed signs of being on the wrong side of his super strength. "How long does he have?"

"If it was just ending there, probably another week."

"But?" Clint asked, shifting his weight. He had a feeling there were a lot more "buts" coming.

"But his heart is showing signs of being infected by the poison. Normally there would be defenses we could use to give him a few more days, but his heart is already unstable with the shrapnel so close. If his heart is indeed infected, he only has a couple more days and I…I don't know if I can find the cure in time," Bruce admitted quietly. He didn't know whether to collapse at his own weakness or punch the wall in anger.

For a second, no one in the room said anything. Finally, Steve worked past the haze of anger covering his thoughts. "Bruce, stay here and do everything you can. Give us as much time as possible." He turned to Clint. "Suit up. We gave Fury time. We're taking over."

Clint's grin bordered on feral. He nodded and left to spread the news to the rest of the team.

"If these people manufactured the poison, they have to know how to cure it." Steve spared a last glance at the man in the bed. He was pale and had lost a lot of weight. They tried to give him added nutrients, but his body burned through them faster than they could replace them. His breathing was shaky and without the tube stuffed down his throat, he would be dead within a matter of minutes—his lungs had stopped working enough to keep him alive the day they found him. Still, the blue light of the reactor remained steady. For now, his heart was safe.

"Hold on Tony, that's all I'm asking."

_**-line break-**_

"Jarvis, what did I tell you about the music?" Tony asked without looking up from the calculations displayed from the hologram as the music dimmed down, the door closing softly behind the new occupant. He looked up to see it wasn't Pepper, as he expected, but someone not welcome at all. "Scratch that, what did I tell you about allowing people on the 'do not like' list into my lab?"

"Sir, Ms. Potts and Dr. Banner are the only ones on your 'allow' list. Ms. Potts added several others to the list when she discovered this fact," Jarvis intoned.

"Make a note for me to talk to _Ms. Potts _later," Tony grumbled. "What do you want Fury? Nothing? Good, I'm working."

Fury dropped a file on the desk next to Tony. "I've got a mission for you."

Tony spared a glance for the file, then turned back to his math. "Maybe you haven't looked at your payroll recently, but the only people you're paying to do missions are Clint, Natasha, and Steve. Find one of them."

"I think this will interest you," Fury said, like he hadn't even listened to Tony. Something in his voice intrigued Tony, so he turned back to the director.

"Any reason why you've got this on paper like we're in the 19th century?" Tony asked, opening the file, but not really looking at it.

"The same reason your real file isn't on a computer. This is highly classified information, and no technology is completely safe."

Tony frowned slightly. "I'd like to think I wrote your firewalls a little better than that. And Jarvis, make a note to find out where the paper file is."

Fury wiped a hand down his face in exasperation. "Of course you rewrote our firewalls," he sighed. "Your file is in Coulson's office."

Right. Like Tony would even get close to the agent's office. No, not agent—Agent. He still didn't believe Phil was his first name. His scanning of the file pulled him up short. "This information is legit?"

"Checked out by several of my best agents, Clint and Natasha included."

"Jarvis, pull it up on the screens." Instantly, he was surrounded by different display screens showing detailed information.

"The organization's name is A.I.M, Advanced Idea Mechanics. They specialize in advance technology and weapons, and profit from black market selling. They like to lure in bright scientists with the idea of helping the future, then nudge them in the direction of creating new weapons and technology that would give them a high profit and a high body count," Fury explained as Tony read.

Tony's mind was whirling as he listened to Fury talk and read the file, but it kept coming back to one thing. "Any of mine?"

Fury knew exactly what he was talking about. "We don't know. None of them would have come from us, but I know you have at least two more contracts. Their systems are too advanced for a field agent to break into. That's why-"

"That's why you want me to do it. You want me to break into their systems and download their files." Tony rolled to another screen, reading the information off that page. "I should have heard about them before," he muttered. He specifically had a program for Jarvis to run that would look for these things.

"They survive off of being low key. It was by pure accident that we even found them. Can you break into their system?"

"Jarvis, bring it up." A new screen appeared in front of him, lines of coding flying across the screen. Tony's frown deepened as he observed it. "I should be able to, but not from here. I have to get to one of the modems on the base. Give me…two days. I need to write some new algorithms."

"Any way you can write a program that I can give to a trained field agent?" Fury intoned. Tony turned the chair to grin at him.

"Don't trust me?"

Fury's gaze darkened. "That's one of the many reasons I don't want you out there. That and too many things could go wrong, namely the fact that you're a weapons expert. They like weapons. A lot," Fury said, narrowing his eye, pushing his implied meaning.

Tony got it. If he got captured, he knew what to expect—a persuasive argument to manufacture them weapons, which would end in Tony very hurt. He dropped his grin. "I'll take Barton or Romanoff. They can cover me and they're your best agents in stealth."

Fury looked a little appeased. "Take Barton," he said with a nod.

"Good. I have work to do," Tony said, making little shooing motions with his hands. When he was satisfied that Fury was actually leaving, he turned back to A.I.M's security system.

"Care to explain why we couldn't find this Jarvis?"

"It appears to be hidden behind codes of another system, one that would not be picked up on the information I was looking for."

"We'll have to fix that later. Can you get into the first layer? We need something, even just a map of the system."

There was a pause as Jarvis took a crack at the coding. "I apologize sir. I cannot get through any of the system. I need to be-"

"At the mainframe, yes I figured. Well, let's get to work, shall we?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Ha-ha! I bet you all thought I was dead. I was, kinda. Apparently my time management skills between 20 credits, 20 hours of work, and running a school organization is worse then I thought it was. However, I have emerged from this semester victorious, so there is that. AND I finally got back to work on this! **

**I hope that this makes many of you who have read, favorited, followed, and reviewed (which, by the way, so many thanks! You all are awesome) happy and I hope I don't let you down with this chapter. Know this-I've already started working on the third chapter, so it won't be, you know, three months until you get another update. Hopefully. **

**Anywho, you all know the drill-read, review, enjoy!**

**(And happy holidays if I don't get the next chapter up in time!)**

* * *

It hadn't taken long to get the rest of the team assembled; they only had to find Natasha and send an alert to Thor, who would meet them at the tower. They had been itching to go after A.I.M. ever since Clint had called in transport to come pick them up and ordered a medical team. They had arrived, hoping that _someone _on the team could appease Tony into behaving for the medical team and instead they had found a barely conscious, barely breathing Tony, face pale and lips tinged slightly blue as he struggled to pull in the breathe he needed. Clint had a hand on his shoulder and was murmuring things in his ear. As soon as the medical team arrived, Clint had relinquished his hold on Tony and a few minutes later, he had slipped into the coma he had yet to come out of.

Everyone had been restless since then, confined to the helicarrier as they waited for news. But now, now they were going to actually be able to do something.

Fury was waiting for them when they approached the quinjet.

"Stealing one of my quinjets again? Last time you destroyed New York."

"Technically it was only Manhattan," Steve said, stepping forward. The rest of the team held back, letting their leader take control. "And this time, we're only making a brief stop there."

"And just what do you need back in Manhattan?"

"Weapons. Information. Our last teammate." Fury's eye narrowed as he confirmed what they were doing. Steve pushed on. "We gave you time. We gave you almost a week to find information and so far you've got nothing. We're not just going to stand around anymore while a teammate dies."

Natasha stepped forward suddenly, her arm brushing against Steve's as she stood beside him. Her muscles were tight with anger. "How long have you known Tony was dying?"

Suddenly, Steve understood. Fury hadn't even reacted when he said Tony was dying. Someone had told him about the poison infecting his heart which, really, wasn't a surprise because there were other doctors working with Bruce. But how long had they been kept in the dark so they would stay on the ship?

"For a day. And I told the doctors not to tell you so you wouldn't go running off on some hare-brained mission. You're already down one teammate. I'm not losing my whole team."

For the second time in that hour, white hot rage coursed through Steve. He forced his mind to stay concentrated. As much pleasure as it would give him to throw Fury off the helicarrier, it wouldn't get them anywhere. "You're giving up on saving Tony," Steve stated. "Did you even _try _to look into A.I.M?"

Fury glared at him. "Yes, and I lost three of my best agents to them.'

"No," Clint said, stepping forward to join Natasha and Steve. "Three of your best agents are right here. And _now _your three best agents are going out."

"You three are benched. I'm ordering you to stand down." Fury's tone was daring them to challenge him. The part of Steve that was a trained soldier, who had dealt with the military his whole life, was agreeing to stand down. But the part of him that made up the majority of who he was only took Fury's words as fuel to add to his fire of anger.

"And I'm ordering you to fuck off. You either move aside or _I'll _move you aside," Steve said. Never before had he challenged authority this blatantly and disrespectful. Beside him, Natasha and Clint tensed, ready for a fight if it came to it. Fury noticed it and, while they were on his ship, it would take at least five seconds for back up to arrive, and three trained agents could easily take him down in that time. Not to mention, he wouldn't risk the loyalty of his three best agents. He stood down.

"Fine. But I'm sending Coulson after you," he said as moved aside. Steve nodded stonily as the three of them walked past him to board the quinjet. There was silence as Clint activated the jet and gently pulled it up and out into the open sky. The sun was blazing brightly.

"So now that that's over, what exactly is the plan Cap?" Clint asked, setting in the coordinates for the Avengers' Tower in New York into the system.

"I know Fury said Jarvis didn't get anything, but right now I'm not inclined to trust him. Besides, maybe we just need to get the right person to ask Jarvis. Natasha, I need you to call Pepper and have her meet us at the tower," Steve said, looking out over the sky. He knew how this was going to work. If one of their teammates went down, the rest would go down trying to save them. It was just how teams like theirs worked, and he had a feeling that Fury never really expected to see them again.

~o0o~

"So explain to me again how exactly you plan to get into there without a map?" Clint asked, adjusting the bow on his back as they crouched down on one of the hills that surrounded the warehouse. It was good cover for the highly illegal operation, but it also provided them with good cover as they scoped the place out.

"Not just me Barton. You too," Tony said. Jarvis was currently hooked up to his blue tooth device and situated in his ear. As he scanned the area, he reported back only what he could tell without hacking into the system. Tony was starting to get really tired of this high security system—without being able to break in, he couldn't bring all of the traps and codes down before they headed down the hill, so they would have to avoid what traps Jarvis could pick out and Clint could spot and then go old school on the entrance codes and hack them when he got to them. Not to mention, it was grating on his ego. He was supposed to be the leader in technology and he'd never met a system he couldn't corrupt.

He really wanted to take A.I.M. down.

"Their system is too advanced for me to hack into from an outside source, so we're in stealth mode," Tony said. He saw Clint roll his eyes at him and let out his trademark smirk.

"And there's no way I can just go in by myself? It's bad enough that you have to carry that thing," he pointed to the bright red and gold briefcase sitting at Tony's feet, "with you, but you aren't even trained for stealth!"

"Tell me birdbrain, did you understand anything I was doing in the lab the last couple days?"

Clint rolled his eyes again. "Tony, I gave up trying to understand your work a long time ago."

"Then no, you can't do this. Point, me."

"When you're the first one to get discovered and I have to come save your ass, then I get to use one of your cars for a week." Tony opened his mouth and Clint added, "One of the ones in your workshop. Not one of the ones you keep to crash."

Tony scowled. "Fine. Here, put this in your ear. It's hooked up to Jarvis, and he'll be able to tell you where some of the traps are set up."

"How, exactly?" Clint asked as he put it in. "I mean, if he can't hack it, how can he tell there's traps there?"

"Most machines give off a hum at a certain frequency when they're on. He can scan for that frequency. Now are we going to do this or what?"

Clint pulled his bow off his back, testing the string just to be sure before they left. "Let's go."

Twenty minutes later, they had finally made it down the hill, around the traps, and through one of the back doors. The security on the door was low compared to the rest of the warehouse, only asking for a palm print and a numeric code. The latter, Jarvis was able to provide easily and the first was just a matter of heating the screen to a certain temperature before the residual palm print was at human body temperature.

"What now?" Tony asked as the door opened and they slipped inside. When Clint shot a glare at him, he shrugged. "You're the tactician here. Plus I don't have any help here without technology."

Clint sighed. "Fine. We'll have to split up and look for the control room."

"Whoa Buckeye, I don't need the control room. Just any computer. Lot less security in some of those side rooms."

"Are the coms still secure?" Tony shot him an offended look. "Right, of course they are," he said before Tony could start some protest. "Stay in constant contact. I don't like this."

"Aye-aye," he said with a two fingered salute. Tony hefted the suitcase higher, wishing he could just throw it on the ground and trigger it. Natasha had started training him in stealth but he still preferred his suit any day.

Most of the doors required a code that he really didn't feel like breaking through. In the meantime, Clint was constantly talking in his ears, safe up in his rafters. Tony responded with quiet one worded answers as often as he could. While there were some guards walking by…

"You notice how deserted this place is?" Tony asked as Jarvis scanned for connecting computers and life forms.

"Maybe it's a side base. We don't know anything about them," Clint said, but Tony heard the implied _or it's a trap_ in his tone.

"Right," Tony responded.

"_Sir, the room to your right is unlocked and also has a computer that is connected to the network," _Jarvis intoned.

"Great. Tell Clint."

"_Right away sir."_

Tony slipped into the room. It was complete deserted. A couple of monitors were hooked up into the operating system on one side. Other than that, the room was empty.

"Tell Clint this is definitely a trap. Then see what you can do to break into the system."

"Sir I'm detecting an-"

Tony heard it just before he felt it—a slight whirring sound of a machine coming to life. Then the computer in front of him shut off, Jarvis' voice was cut off, and the light in the reactor died.

Normally, the arc reactor held up to EMP devices. But this one was a powerful one, and was closer than he had ever planned on allowing such device. His heart began to stutter, his breathing became uneven, and he stumbled back against the wall.

Definitely a trap.


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter, but I don't know how I feel about the next chapter I'm working on either...After that chapter I only have a general idea of where the story is going, so expect longer delays between updates. I shall try my best, but well, life. **

**I feel I should also remind/tell everyone that I have no idea about the medical field or the technology field. So all of my hacking and breaking and hospital stuff? Pretty much made up. So sorry for any, you know, lies that I'm feeding you. **

**Anywho, look for the next update in about a week or week and a half. I'll try and get it done before I head back up to school. **

**Read, review, and enjoy :D**

* * *

Pepper was waiting for them on the landing dock. Steve had forced her home a day earlier, telling her to get a good night's sleep, a shower, and some real food. From the looks of it, the only thing she had done was the shower. Her arms were wrapped tightly around her chest. She could handle listening to Tony berate the doctors as they patched him up after a mission gone wrong. What she couldn't handle was watching Tony's life quietly slip away in front of her eyes.

"Captain, do you have news?" she asked urgently.

"We're taking control of the mission. Is there any way Jarvis might have picked something up that Fury wouldn't have access to?" Clint and Natasha followed behind them as he led the way to Tony's workshop. Pepper considered his words.

"There's a chance. I don't really need to tell you how much Tony dislikes Fury," she said with a sad smile.

"Would you have access to it?" Clint asked. Pepper leaned against the elevator wall while she debated with herself. On one hand, Tony would kill her. On the other, it might save his life so that he would actually have the chance to kill her…

"Probably. Jarvis?" she called to the ceiling.

"Yes Miss. Potts?"

"Access ghost drive. Password: Pepper Potts."

The AI was silent for a second, then responded back, "Password accepted. Voice recognition accepted. What may I help you find Miss. Potts?"

"The password to his ghost drive is your name?" Clint asked in disbelief.

"It's only half of the password. Jarvis also matches voices, so just saying my name won't help any."

Steve rested a hand on her shoulder. "He loves you a lot."

For a second, her defenses crumbled. Her shoulders sagged, her eyes sought the ground. Another second later, her mask was carefully set back into place. "I know. Jarvis, do you have any information from the day Tony infiltrated A.I.M's headquarters?"

"Very little Miss. Potts. However, I was able to get a small so-called 'leg in' on A.I.M.'s system. Are you looking for any information in specific?"

"Any information on where A.I.M headed after the attack," Steve answered.

"You heard the man Jarvis. Please," Pepper instructed.

"I require a few minutes to search the system."

"Thank you Jarvis," Pepper said to the AI before turning back to the team. "Normally Tony would search through the code. It takes Jarvis a little longer, but not by much."

A loud _thunk _from upstairs, followed by a booming "My fellow teammates! Where might I find your location?" alerted them to Thor's presence.

"I'll go debrief him," Natasha volunteered. "Let me know if he finds anything."

"How are you holding up Pepper?" Steve asked, though he still found it strange to call her by her first name. Pepper gave him a hopeful smile.

"As well as can be expected. The company has proved to be a good distraction. We've been trying to keep Tony's condition out of the media, but they're starting to ask too many questions."

"Why the secrecy?" Steve asked.

"If the public finds out about Tony's…condition," Clint said, not able to force himself to say what was really happening, "Stark Industries' stock would plummet and the company would suffer."

"Just because Tony wasn't 100%?" There was still a lot Steve didn't understand in the new world. The economy and its businesses was one of them.

"Tony leads the company's scientists in patents. He's the reason that Stark Industries is where it is now. Without him, many of our investors wouldn't see how the company could keep up in the world and would sell out. The company would most likely go bankrupt."

"I believe I have found something Miss. Pots. There is indication of an underground base in Nevada. I have coordinates, if you would like them."

"Send them to the quinjet Jarvis," Pepper instructed. "Go ahead and shut down the ghost drive as well."

"Of course Miss. Potts."

"Thank you Pepper. Now we have a location."

Pepper's eyes hardened. "When you find whoever did this, make sure they never get the chance to do it again."

"No worries there Pepper," Clint responded as he pulled out some of the arrows Tony had been working on. New gases and explosives had been attached. "Even S.H.I.E.L.D won't get to see them."

"I do not understand," Thor was saying, his voice the closest to angry that Steve or Clint had ever heard. "Why have we not gone after those who hurt the Man of Iron before now?"

"Because we were being lied to," Clint said, coming to Natasha defense. "But now we're going to make them all pay."

"We have a location?" Natasha asked.

"Nevada. Pile in. Jarvis is driving," Steve said.

(|o.o|) /||\ (|o.o|)

Tony debated hitting the manual release on the suit. If he was able to get to the arc reactor, he might be able to rig something up to jump start it again. Footsteps, however, alerted him to a presence that wasn't Clint, and he decided that at least the armor still offered him protection from bullets and knives.

Not that it mattered. Without power, the face mask didn't allow very much in outside visuals, so he was defenseless when said presence reached forward and tugged the helmet off. The man was older, probably 60's, hair turning white. He had the build of someone who had once been muscular, but had let his fitness go. Other than that, the man was utterly unremarkable. To either side of him stood two figures, completely cloaked in black gear much like his flight suit, armed with semi-automatic guns. Heavy fire power for a defenseless opponent.

"Clever, turning the entire computer system into an EMP," Tony panted as he glared up at the man. "I'm guessing you set it to trigger as soon as remote access was attempted?"

"The whole system was a set-up, Mr. Stark." The man's voice was smooth, reminding him of Obadiah's voice. It had the same persuasive tone that made people do what he said. "It didn't matter what computer you attempted to access, the result would have been the same."

"That's quite the plan, just to capture little old me," Tony tried to play off.

The man laughed. "Oh come now Mr. Stark. There's nothing 'little' about you, is there?"

"Let me guess. You have the deal of a lifetime for me. I help you build some weapons and you let me live?"

He shrugged. "I imagine that most people have offered you that deal. However, A.I.M. is well aware you won't accept our offer. See, we have a plan. It's little bit more extravagant, but well, we think you're worth it."

Tony had to deliberately keep his hand from going up to his chest. There was only so much longer he was going to be conscious. It had to be a strong EMP to knock the arc reactor out for so long. "You'll forgive me if I don't really feel particularly honored. Most people regret trying to mix themselves up in my life, not to mention the fact that I have a team now, and they don't really like it when I just vanish without any word. Especially Bruce. He tends to get…green. Very green."

"Don't worry, we are well aware of your team. They have been accounted for in our plans." Tony really didn't like the sound of that. His eyes twitched up to the rafters with a small hope of seeing Clint magically appear like he always seemed to. "Oh I wouldn't worry too much Mr. Stark. Your friend up in the ceiling won't be able to get here in time." Tony noticed a distinct black edge narrowing in on his vision. The man checked his watch. "Looks like we're just about out of time though, as fun as this has been Mr. Stark." He gestured to one of the masked guards behind him, who handed a syringe. Oh, Tony definitely didn't like this. "This will most likely hurt a bit, but you won't really notice it after a while." He leaned down, pressing the needle into Tony's neck. Tony tried to raise his hands or push away from him but everything in his body was weak with lack of oxygen. Tony blinked furiously, trying to focus on the man's face as it invaded his personal bubble like crazy. "Come find us when you wake up Mr. Stark. Your team and I will be waiting."

The man stood up and moved back, dropping the empty syringe next to Tony. "Let's go," he commanded the other two. They left the room without looking back, leaving Tony behind as he slowly slipped into unconsciousness.


	4. Chapter 4

**Wow. So it's been...awhile. I apologize to everyone for the wait. I've been going through a lot the last month or so. About two weeks ago, my father passed away to brain cancer. Between trekking home (I live 7 hours away) and trying to keep up on schoolwork, I've been pretty tied up. Life is kind of getting back to normal, so hopefully my updates will be a little closer to having something like a regular updating schedule. **

**As I say this though, I will be out of the country in about a week for a 10 day trip to Ecuador (yay warmth!). **

**So there will probably only be one more chapter with this flashback/present-day format. After that, we'll be caught up! We're also coming up to the point where I have no idea where this is going...so be prepared!**

**It's been a long time since I've said this, but read, review and enjoy! Hopefully I'll see you all again soon :)**

* * *

"Come on guys, where are you?" Bruce muttered as he checked Tony's vitals again. When Tony had first arrived, his heart had been pumping at a standard resting rate. From that point on, his heart rate had steadily slowed. As of right now, his heart rate had finally slipped below the minimum standard of a comatose human.

His lungs only worked when a machine told him to. His digestive track was in shambles, leading to a severe lack of nutrients for his body. His brain waves were slowing down. And now, despite the best efforts of the arc reactor, his heart was failing.

Bruce had told Steve that he could probably give them a couple days. Now, he wasn't sure. The poison, always one step ahead of him, was acting faster than any of the doctors thought possible. He fingered the com link, trying to work up the nerve to call his teammates.

Tony's heart skipped a beat. Bruce hit the connection.

"Steve," he said into it.

"Bruce! We have a lead. Jarvis found something and stored it on a ghost drive. We're on our way to an A.I.M. base in Nevada." He sounded so hopeful that Bruce almost lied to the man. But… "How's Tony?" His silence more than answered Steve's question, but Steve was determined to be his optimistic self. "Dr. Banner?"

A hard anger coursed through Bruce that usually led to a change from man to beast. This time though, he felt the approval of the other guy. Bruce felt like he was saying _we're both angry. I'll provide the anger, you provide the calculations. _

"Your mission is going to be a revenge mission," Bruce said, trying not to look at Tony when he said it.

There was silence in return. Then, "I thought you said we had at least two days."

"I don't even know what this poison is Steve. Maybe it noticed a weakness in Tony's system and increased its attack."

"How much longer?"

"Hours, probably," Bruce responded as he noticed the frequent skip in Tony's heart. Even that was optimistic with the rate Tony was declining. "Maybe less."

"We'll get these people Bruce." Natasha's voice came over the intercom.

"Join us…." Steve's voice trailed off. "Join us when you can."

"Wouldn't miss it for the world."

The line went quiet and Bruce turned back to his patient. There was nothing more to do but wait. He couldn't give Tony anything, for fear it would react and put Tony in pain, and at least throughout this whole ordeal, Tony had never seemed to be in pain. It was like he had just fallen asleep and detached himself from any feeling. Bruce had seen some strange things in all his traveling, but he had never heard of someone not being in pain while every single one of their vital organs shut down.

"What could they have possibly given you?" Bruce wondered out loud.

"I'm afraid I've made no more progress on the drug Dr. Banner," Jarvis said. Bruce could imagine a tint of panic to the voice. "Mr. Stark's heart rate has dropped below even that of a comatose patient's, and his brainwaves have slowed to the point of those released from life support. Should I call Ms. Potts?"

Lord, but Bruce didn't want to make that call. "No. I'll make the call," Bruce said. It was the least he could do to return the kindness she had shown him. "Just…just keep monitoring."

Bruce stared at his phone again, wondering if he had the courage to tell Pepper that he had failed. Jarvis didn't give him a chance. Sounds of a phone ringing filled the room as Jarvis made the connection himself.

"Dr. Banner?" Pepper said. The hope in her voice was astounding, especially after all of the days she had spent in the hospital room, watching Tony sink further and further into a permanent coma. "You have news?"

"It's-It's not-" Bruce looked away, towards the door. Why had he ever agreed to come out of hiding? Taking strength from the green beast hidden inside him, he forced the words out. "It's not good Pepper."

"How-how much longer?" To her credit, she was holding it together well. He couldn't even hear the tears that he knew she was crying.

"Seconds. Minutes. Hours." Bruce sighed. "No more than an hour, but that's leaning towards the hopeful side."

"I'm on my way now. Just…just try to keep him alive. Until I can say good-bye," Pepper said.

"Of course Pepper. I'll-I'll do what I can," Bruce said. Their connection ended before he could tell her that there was absolutely nothing he could do. The poison was in full control of Tony's body.

"Dr. Banner, I do not believe that Ms. Potts will arrive in time," Jarvis commented. Bruce wondered if he was accusing him of lying or if Bruce was becoming paranoid.

"No, I don't think she will."

As if on cue, the heart monitor began to wail as it read off 0 BPM to Bruce. Bruce immediately silenced the alarm. He could try CPR, but Tony's body was weak from lying in bed for a week's time. He would likely do greater harm than help if you tried to revive Tony. Besides, if all his organs weren't working anyway…

Bruce watched for a full minute as the monitor read back that there was no heartbeat. Finally he worked up the courage to begin unhooking the machines. He started with the breathing tube, then the first IV for his meds and the second IV for the liquid nutrients he had been pumping into Tony's body. Then the catheter. He paused then, convincing himself that he could take off the finger clasp that measured his nonexistent heart beat and the nodes that measured the nonexistent brainwaves.

"What the-?" Bruce squinted at the monitor. He could have sworn he saw a blip on the heart monitor.

But that was impossible. Tony had been dead for a full two minutes.

And then with a desperate air-sucking gasp, Tony arched his back and lived.

Tony slowly found his way back to consciousness when someone persistently kept patting his face. His blurred vision identified Clint sitting in front of him, and no one else in the room.

"If you don' stop tha', I'm gonna…do somethin'," Tony slurred. Clint gave one last slap, waking Tony a little more, before he leaned back. Tony saw a look of worry in his eyes.

"You went offline," Clint said, not bothering to respond to Tony's goad. "And by you, I mean you and Jarvis. Jarvis powered back up a few minutes ago and I got here as fast as I can. I had him check the arc reactor and he said that it was operating fine. But…."

But Tony didn't look good. Hell, Tony didn't _feel _good. With the arc reactor working at full strength again, he should've just been dealing with a severe lack of energy, which he definitely was, but in addition to that he was still short of breath and his head pounded.

"Jarvis," Tony said, raising an arm that felt like jelly to tap at his Bluetooth connection. "Run that basic body scan."

"I'll need you to put the helmet back on sir," Jarvis responded. Tony looked for the helmet and found it just out of arm's reach. He tried to grab it, but Clint had to grab _him_ before he slid down the wall. Without a word, but with one of the biggest frowns Tony thought he'd ever seen the other man give, Clint handed him the helmet and helped maneuver it onto his head.

"Basic scans are showing an elevated heartbeat, yet a low blood pressure. I would recommend seeking medical attention immediately."

"Jarvis, inform the team. They should be on their way," Clint instructed. "Tony, what the hell happened? You look like shit, but there's not a mark on you."

"A.I.M. decided to have a friendly chat with me," Tony said. His breath came in slight pants; even speaking short sentences was getting difficult. But this was important. He needed to make sure Clint got this before he passed out. "Said they had some plan….in motion." He paused to try and catch his breath again.

"Maybe you should just sit quietly until the team gets here."

"S.H.I.E.L.D is ten minutes out sir. They have a fully equipped medical team ready," Jarvis informed them.

Tony managed to grab Clint's arm. "No. This….this is important. They injected…something in me. Through the-the neck," Tony said. Words were getting impossible, but there was still one more thing to tell him. "Don't…trap," Tony panted.

The familiar feeling of suffocating was back in full force. At least this time, there wasn't the same aching pain in his chest. He tried to calm his heart and breathing down, but his body craved the oxygen it wasn't receiving. He would have to hope that Clint got the message.

"Tony, we'll find these guys," Clint said, leaning in closer. "Bruce will figure out whatever they put in you and you'll be back helping us in no time." Tony blinked a couple times, trying to get Clint to come into focus but it wasn't happening. "Just stay awake for me Tony. Think of the hell Pepper will reign down on us."

Oh god, Pepper. She would worry unnecessarily. She'd probably wait by his bedside, slowly wasting away. He hoped the team would take good care of her until he could get back to her.

Because even though it looked like he was about to die, Tony had his doubts. A.I.M. indicated that there was a plan for him, and that they were willing to take on the team just to get to him. Killing him seemed a little counterproductive to that. He heard a whoosh as a jet landed on the roof above them and realized Clint had been talking to him the whole time.

"See? Team's here. Just another minute Tony." It almost sounded like Clint was pleading…but Clint didn't plead. Or beg. Unless it was for arrows. Or if he wanted to use one of his cars. Speaking of which, there was going to be hell to pay when this whole thing was done. Maybe he would have time to move all of his nicest cars-

"Agent Barton, I need you to move aside." A medic had snuck up on Tony while he was distracted by his trail of thought. Clint stepped back, and Tony's eyes slipped past him, to the team that was entering into the room. Their eye's widened as the medics began to crowd around Tony. There was too many of them and he just wanted them all to step back and to stop _touching him_ and before any of the medics could ask him any questions, Tony's world tilted and blackness took over his vision again.


	5. Chapter 5

**HA-HA! I bet you all thought I was dead. I assure you, I was not dead. I was distracted, busy, and without focus or inspiration. It's a terrible combination. However, I appear before you today with new chapter! And an idea of where I'm going with the next chapter. Hypothetically, you shouldn't have to wait so long for the next chapter. Hypothetically. **

**I want to take the time to thank all of you who stuck with me, continued to review and like and follow and everyone who continued to have faith in me that I would upload a new chapter. THANK YOU SO MUCH!**

**On a side note, who was a little disappointed in Iron Man 3? And who is so uber sad that RDJ is done with the Iron Man movies? So much sadness. Luckily, the new Star Trek made up for everything. **

**THANK YOU ALL AGAIN!**

**As always, read, review, and enjoy!**

* * *

"What the-Tony? Tony!" Bruce moved forward, quickly putting a gentle hand on Tony's chest to get him to settle down. The air Tony drew into his lungs sounded clear, not like the rasping breaths he'd drawn before. The monitor told him that Tony's brainwaves had returned to normal, like the man hadn't been dead only a minute ago. Finally, Tony's restless eyes caught his.

"Bruce." His voice was harsh with disuse and abuse, but Tony pushed through anyway. "Bruce, where's the team?"

"The team? Tony, what the hell? You were dead!"

Tony pushed himself up, despite Bruce's restraining hand. He shook his head, but Bruce could see that he regretted it. The change in altitude was catching up with him. Bruce pushed a glass of water in his hands and he took a long drink from it. "A.I.M. deals with mechanics. The body is just another machine to them. It was a reboot drug."

"A-a what?"

"It shuts the systems down one by one until the whole body acts dead. A minute after death, it jump starts all the systems to reboot the body."

"How did you figure this entire thing out?" Bruce asked. It made sense though. Tony's body _had _acted like each system was turning offline. And honestly, he had seen weirder things. He turned into a giant green monster. Thor used a rainbow bridge, as Tony liked to call it, to move between worlds. If Tony said there was a drug that could treat the body like a computer, he believed him.

Tony shied away from mention of the knowledge. "I was aware for most of it. Up until the last couple days."

"Damn it," Bruce muttered. Tony had probably been in intense pain. He had given Tony pain medication, but he hadn't given him a lot or anything strong in case it reacted with whatever drug A.I.M. had given him.

Tony clapped him on the shoulder. "Not your fault buddy. Now, where's the team?"

Bruce decided not to even ask how Tony was so aware. Tony had managed to defy the laws of biological systems long ago. "They went after A.I.M. Jarvis found something in their computer system before he shut down and stored it on a ghost drive where Fury couldn't find it. Pepper activated the ghost drive for them and they found a location."

"And then you lost contact with them," Tony guessed.

"The last time I talked to them, they were just arriving. I should call them and tell them you're alive. Oh, and Pepper's on her way."

Tony grimaced. "You won't be able to. The whole thing was a trap. A.I.M. wants me to make weapons for them and they knew kidnapping _me _wouldn't be encouragement enough. So they put this elaborate plan into play that would lead the team to them, where they would capture them which, in turn, would lead _me _to them where they would capture me and use the team as ransom to get me to build weapons."

"That is…quite the elaborate plan."

"Good afternoon sir," Jarvis' voice intoned.

"Jarvis! I missed you," Tony said with a large smile.

"And I you sir."

"I'm going to guess you lost contact with the team?"

"I'm afraid so sir. I apologize. I should have seen the trap in advance."

"They worked really hard to make sure none of you would see it coming and made sure I wouldn't be able to tell you. Well, at least we can get to work now," Tony said as he hopped off the bed. Bruce was at his side in seconds, grabbing his arm and hauling him up with an impressive amount of strength Tony didn't know the doctor had.

Bruce shrugged when Tony looked at him. "I have the big guy on a tight rope. We're really close right now. Also, you literally just came back from death. You've been lying on a bed for five days. You had to have known you wouldn't have the strength to stand. You shouldn't even be able to manage this much!"

"Sir, Ms. Potts is here," Jarvis said.

"Crap," Bruce and Tony responded together. Said redhead arrived a few seconds later, rounding the corner and freezing.

"T-Tony?" she whispered.

"Yeah, so situation solved?" Tony asked hesitantly. He and Bruce were still standing together, Bruce's arm wrapped around Tony's chest. Pepper ran forward and threw her arms around him, Bruce just managing to get out of the way in time. She buried her head in his chest, actually enjoying the blinding blue light for once. After a few minutes she looked up to Bruce and he was astounded by the joy and happiness in her eyes.

"Bruce did you-did you?" Her voice was soft with wonder and Bruce wished he could say yes.

"No Pepper."

"The drug wasn't designed for permanent death. Just momentary death. They needed me out of the way."

"Whose they?" Bruce wondered if Pepper had learned from Tony how to recover from the bizarre so quickly. Now that she was assured of Tony's life, she was all business, although he noticed she still kept a hand against Tony's side.

"A.I.M. They work in black markets weapons and they want me to build weapons for them."

"Well I'm sure that the team will take care of it." When nobody responded, Pepper looked between the two of them, then sighed. "They got captured, didn't they?"

"We think so," Bruce tried to say gently.

"And now you two have to go get them?"

"Relax!" Tony said with his smirk that he always saved for his friends. "I've got a plan…kind of. _And _I'll even let you keep Dr. Banner to yourself Ms. Potts, as long as you promise to behave."

"Tony, you can't seriously mean to go alone," Bruce demanded. "We should tell Fury about where they are and he can get a whole team together and we can raid the bunker and overwhelm them."

"And while we fight our way to the team, they can kill our teammates off or move them to a new location. No, I think my plan is way better. And besides, I won't be _completely _alone."

-o0o-o0o-o0o-o0o-

"So…" Clint said into the silence of the white walled room they were being held in. Steve was leaning against the wall, trying to absorb the cool of the walls to ease his pounding head. Whatever drug they had given him had made it virtually impossible to move. Thor had been convinced to remain powerless, lest A.I.M. decide to take their anger out on Clint or Natasha. Although the guards were wary of Natasha and Clint, they had been allowed free range of the room, free of drugs. They both suspected that the minute they showed any sign of violence, they would find themselves drugged as well. "Bad plan then?"

Natasha paced in front of them, her hands gently running through her hair. "What's their end game? They've made it clear that they don't want anything from us. We thought they wanted Tony, but Bruce said he was going to…that he was close when we got here and there wasn't anything else they could do. So why take us captive?"

All the occupants of the room froze as they heard footsteps down the hall. Natasha moved quietly in front of Steve as the locks on the outside were forced open and another person was shoved into the room, the door quickly latched behind them.

"Sheesh. They act like I'm crashing a party I was invited to," the person said. "Hell, I'm the freaking guest of honor. They could show a little more respect!" The person's voice rose, clearly directed to the guards on the other side of the door. He turned around and saw everyone staring at him. "Really? This is the best greeting you can give me?"

"Tony?" Natasha practically whispered.

Tony gave them a blinding grin. "That's me!"


	6. Chapter 6

**Hark! I don't think it's been even a month since my last update and look! It's like a double chapter. I made it nice and long for you guys because I love you guys so much! :D**

**A few notes before we get into it. I'm kind of ignoring the events of Iron Man 3. You'll find out eventually, so I won't spoil it. But pretend that it never happened. I'll have more at the end of the story, explaining myself. **

**But for now, I hope that you will all read, review, and enjoy!**

* * *

"What the hell are you doing here?" Natasha said, striding forward to slap him upside the head. "You came alone?"

"Ow, Jesus! Can we remember that I just died and came back to life again?"

"It's good to see you Tony," Clint responded drily. "Now what the hell are you doing here? And can we talk about how you're not dead?"

"I'm guessing you realize that you walked into a trap?"

"No Tony. I'm pretty sure we're free to go whenever we want," Clint said.

"Wow, sarcasm. Real original Barton," Tony said. "_Anyway_ the drug was never designed to permanently kill me, just to make it look like it was going to kill me so you would leave and walk into this trap. And now, I imagine that we'll get to the whole 'build me weapons' thing soon."

"And so you came here alone?" Natasha asked.

"What, I was just supposed to leave you guys here by yourself?" Tony joked, but his eyes warned her not to ask anything else. She watched him for a few more seconds, trying to see what his plan was before she nodded. "What's wrong with spangles over there? And why is Thor so quiet?"

"They knocked Steve out and gave him some drug. Thor thinks that if he moves, they'll kill us. They just threatened violence against Clint and I unless he behaved."

Tony looked back at Thor and the bigger man nodded. His hammer was nowhere in sight, not that it really mattered; it would come when he called. Steve though, was definitely a damper on his plans. Footsteps echoed down the hall and Natasha moved back in front of Steve. The door opened and a bright light flipped overhead. All of them blinked rapidly to clear their vision.

"Ah, so you have joined us Mr. Stark!" the older man said as he walked in. Two guards moved into the doorway, guns held ready. "One of my agents came to me and reported that Mr. Stark, and I quote, 'arrived at the door, very politely knocked, and then demanded to be taken to his team.'"

"Well, you didn't really give me a choice. And before we even star the whole 'build this for me,' to which I'll respond, mostly out of principle, 'you can't make me' and then we'll spend a few minutes debating before I'll ultimately agree to do it, we should get some things clear," Tony said. He pointed to Steve. "No more drugs for him. He'll behave with everybody else's lives on the line. Plus, I'll need him coherent to help."

The other man regarded him, then nodded. "If he does anything I'll kill him and Agent Romanoff. You have other requests?"

"I'm just going to assume that you don't mean me to work in here, but I expect wherever I'm working will have sleeping accommodations."

"We'll move cots in. Is that all of your requests?"

"They weren't really requests. More of demands. And for now, sure. Shall we start on the predicted dialogue?"

The man gave him a patronizing smile. "You'll find the plans in the workshop, a place which I will lead you all to shortly. However, first I must issue my warnings. I have already stated what will happen if the good Captain should try to escape or shows any violence towards my agents. I have also informed them of what will happen should Thor try the same thing. Should you prove obstinate or show any sign of doing anything _except _building weapons, Mr. Stark, we will remove your arc reactor." Tony barely stopped himself from making any sign of reaction. He'd like to see them try to take it. "And should Dr. Banner, who you kindly left at home, decide to join you or cause any violence, Mr. Rogers will return to his drugged state, Agent Romanoff will be killed, and the arc reactor will be removed. We will also have no choice but to turn over Dr. Banner to the labs."

Tony tried to swallow past a dry throat. This was getting a lot more serious than he had anticipated. He was starting to rethink their plan, but he didn't exactly have a better one to replace it.

"I'm going to assume that you understand."

"I understand. No funny stuff."

The man nodded. "Good. With that in mind, if you would all follow me."

Tony dropped back to help Thor haul Steve to his feet. Thor was still deadly silent "Tony?" Steve slurred.

"Don't worry, I'm just a hallucination. Go back to sleep," Tony instructed. Steve "hmmed" in response and his head rolled to rest on Tony's shoulder.

They took a different path through the hallways then they had led Tony down. He was beginning to realize that he had no idea how big this compound was. The only thing on the floors visible from the ground was a mainstream office building. Which would have been unsuspicious except for the fact that it was in the middle of nowhere. The rest of the compound was underground. He had the idea that they had walked down at least another two floors, but he couldn't be certain. He did, however, trust that Clint and Natasha knew the general direction they were walking. The man stopped outside of a steel set of doors and led them through another room, clearly meant to be a monitor room. There weren't any windows into the next room, but Tony was able to get enough of a look at the monitors to get a gauge of the caliber of security. It was not looking good. The man stepped in front of keypad and entered a code before the other set of steel doors opened. Tony recognized the keypad as he walked by—nearly un-hackable, the keypad was silent, giving no indication to what buttons had been pushed. The keypad itself emitted a heat signature that would throw off any heat seeking device or any device that scanned for genetic material left behind. The buttons held no printing on them, so it was impossible to tell which buttons faced the most wear. Plus, the program that ran it was set to require a new code entered in every day.

The workshop that he let them into was large, though clearly thrown together for this exact situation. It was not meant for comfort—the walls and the floor were the unworked stone of the ground they had buried the compound in. The machinery spread throughout the metal tables was not low-budget. It was like being back in his lab, just without Jarvis or his holograms. Or his 'bots. Or the scenery. Or his-_damn it_ he couldn't do this right now.

"The cots will be moved in before the end of the night. Food will also be provided. Should you need anything else, Mr. Stark, feel free to let us know. I'm sure you'll find some way to do it." The man was positively smirking now. He turned and left the room, his guards following behind him. The clang of the metal doors shutting echoed through the room.

"So…we should probably try this again," Tony said, kneeling down like he was fixing his shoelaces. With the hand that faced away from the cameras, he dipped his fingers into his shoe to pull out five tiny devices and then shoved his hands in his pockets, leaning against the table in what he hoped was nonchalance. If he didn't pull this off, they were all dead. "Hi. I'm Tony Stark, in the flesh," he said, trying to put on his blinding smile as he stepped forward, hand outstretched to Natasha. She hesitated, unsure of his move, but stepped forward and shook his hand. She was far better at this than Tony was, because she didn't make any indication as she took the ear piece from his hand. A causal brush of hair by her ear had it in place. Tony stepped over to Clint next, who also pulled it off easily. Thor would be more difficult. He didn't like using the ear pieces when they went out on missions, and Tony and Bruce had been forced to put their heads together to make sure it wouldn't blow out when Thor called lightning. It was likely he wouldn't even know what Tony was handing him. So Tony took one for the team.

"You look like a giant puppy that got kicked in the face," Tony said, stepping towards Thor. He put his arms around Thor, pulling him in for the hug. Thor, confused, leaned down to make it easier, and Tony patted his head as he pulled away, slipping the ear piece in quickly and, hopefully, securely. Good thing he had learned all those slights of hands in college. They had been incredibly helpful when cheating at poker, and now they were literally life-savers. Well. Hopefully. They weren't out of here yet.

Steve's, Tony decided, would have to wait until the drugs stopped cycling through his system. It would be too easy for him, in his drugged state, to reach up and pull it out. "Glad we could all meet again," Tony said, which was the phrase that would trigger Jarvis and, therefore, Bruce.

"Good evening Avengers," Jarvis spoke in their ears. Thor stiffened slightly, but Tony hoped it wasn't enough to alarm any of their watchers.

"Hey guys," Bruce's tired voice followed. Silence fell in the room.

"So….awkward, right?" Barton asked, leaning back against a wall.

"Hey, I've never died before!" Tony claimed, even though he knew he was talking to Bruce. "I'm not sure how one comes back to life again!"

"Tony threw together some…plan," Bruce said as Tony talked. Bruce's skepticism just added to Tony's mock-hurt expression. "Natasha, Tony needs to hand you another device. It will need to be installed on one of the cameras. Nothing fancy, just somewhere on the outside of it where A.I.M. won't notice it."

Natasha sighed and moved towards Tony. He slid over to make room for her on his right, where the device was hidden. "Can I at least check you over for injuries?" she said, her tone holding the exasperated note that she adopted when she had to hunt him down to force him to eat or sleep.

"Injury free," he said with a grin, but he spread his arms for her as an invitation. She gave him a methodical pat down, one that, should she hit an injury, would cause him to at least grimace. She had done it to him a few times, but usually with a little more success, since Tony always hid his injuries. When she landed on his jean pockets, he felt a flash of her fingers in the pocket and out again, never even delaying in her inspection.

"Hm. Fine. I'll accept it this time," Natasha said. "Tell me about surveillance here."

"I need you climb up there and tell me any identifying features on the cameras. It looks high grade but, who knows maybe the black-weapons dealers are slipping."

"Won't that make them suspicious?" Bruce's voice came through again.

"Unlikely Dr. Banner," Jarvis supplied for Bruce. "They will expect Mr. Stark to scope out the security. If he didn't, it would look like he was complying with their demands too easily and, therefore, up to something."

Natasha was used to doing undercover operations, but this was on a different level for her. Her and Barton lived by two rules—rule number one: Don't get caught. Rule number two: When retrieving someone who has been caught, _don't get caught_. She's never had someone hold her before that wanted her to do something for them. Her captors have only ever wanted her to tell them something, and leaving her alone in a room didn't really accomplish that. So for right now, she played by Tony's rules. Surprisingly, he wasn't doing terrible so far. She climbed up on a table closest to the wall, then lunged forward, her fingers dragging along the rock until they finally caught a hold. She could tell they were probably bleeding now, but she ignored it and climbed the rest of the way to the top, until she had positioned herself right next to the camera. She could practically feel the guards' eyes on her, so she gave her blood-thirsty grin into the camera, even as she slipped the little device underneath plating. She was sure they would come in and check the camera at some point, but unless they took the camera down, they would never find it here. She just hoped that whatever this was supposed to do would be quiet.

"I don't see anything!" she called back down.

"Damn it," Tony said, and Natasha took that as her cue to slide down the wall. "Taking an educated guess? These things are high quality video, none of that blurry crap like the low grade surveillance systems. Think HD to the max. Audio on these things is sharp, probably could pick up whispers."

"The device is activated," Bruce said. "Jarvis is working at uploading."

"What does this strange man want?" Thor said, finally speaking up. Tony felt a release of air go out of him, but he refused to believe it was in relief.

"No idea big guy. Let's find out." Tony turned back to look at the room and a tablet sitting on a table. Tony moved over and picked it up.

"Once Jarvis is uploaded, we'll hopefully be able to piggy-back the systems," Bruce explained to the others as Tony looked through the tablet with a growing sense of dread. "Which means that every so often, we'll be able to override the audio with pre-recorded clips; mostly clips of us talking about meaningless things while we were at the tower. During those moments, you'll be free to talk about anything, though I would still be careful to keep away from the cameras. It's possible they could get a lip reader, or your timing will be off on who talks when. It's going to take some time for Jarvis to upload though."

Clint moved forward, noticing the tension in Tony's shoulders. He looked over Tony's shoulder at the information displayed. "What are they asking you to do?"

"The impossible," Tony muttered. "I don't have any experience in this field."

"What field?" Natasha asked. Clint turned to her with a raised eyebrow.

"Human biology," Clint answered. "They want him working on a project to build a human weapon. They call it," he looked back to consult the tablet. "They call it Extremis."

* * *

**Yesssss my Iron Man/Avengers/Marvel/Extremis fans. I couldn't resist. I wasn't a big fan of the plot line they used in Iron Man 3 with Extremis because the program is so much cooler than that! And so is A.I.M. So, like I said before, I'm going to pretend like Iron Man 3 didn't happen for the sake of this story. And I apologize for the cliff hanger, especially because I probably won't be able to do more work on the story again for awhile! I promise I love all of you!**


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